Dual lens eyeglasses

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to dual-lens eyeglasses including an eyeglass frame and two lens units permanently installed on the eyeglass frame. Each lens unit includes two lenses arranged in optical alignment with each other. The lenses can be optical lenses or sunglass lenses. The optical lenses can be selected from known lenses such as corrective lenses, myopic corrective lenses, reading glasses lenses, progressive lenses, etc. The sunglass lenses can be selected from polarized lenses, tinted lenses, or photochromic lenses. Without the use of sub-frames, two lens units are permanently installed on eyewires of the eyeglass frames, enhancing the integration effect of the eyeglass frames. In addition, each lens is directly fixed and installed on the eyeglass frames, so that the installation is reliable and the lenses will not fall off easily. Furthermore, the lenses can be easily installed on full-rim, half-rim or rimless eyeglass frame.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to Chinese utility modelapplication number 201020577324.9 filed Oct. 26, 2010, the disclosure ofwhich is incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to eyewear and, more particularly,dual-lens eyeglasses.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Eyeglasses play an important role in eye protection and clinicaltreatment of eye diseases. Through wearing glasses, children withstrabismus resulting from refractive abnormalities and patients withconditions as diverse as refractive abnormalities or headaches can betreated through wearing eyeglasses. The eyeglass frame, as the eyewearportion that supports a lens, also has aesthetic and decorative effects.Modern fashion trends stress that eyewear coordinate with facialmake-up, clothing, and accessories, so as to reflect the high socialstatus, good education, fashion consciousness, etc., of the wearer.

With the rapid development of technology, continuous improvement ofcultural and living standards of people, as well as the promotion ofeyesight care, eyewear plays an increasingly important role in people'slives. However, the eyeglasses worn by most wearers use transparentoptical lenses, which cannot protect the eyes of near-sighted personsunder strong sunlight. Moreover, in view of an increasinglydeteriorating ecological environment, solar radiation will be moresevere, resulting in more harm to near-sighted persons. To solve thisproblem, a solution has been developed, in which two sunglass lenses arefixed on a sub-frame, which are then attached to the eyeglass frame.However, firstly, the eyeglass frame according to this solution has pooroverall integration, resulting in a poor aesthetic appearance; secondly,the installation is not secure, and the sub-frame can easily fall offfrom the main frame when the wearer's motion is slightly more vigorous.Currently, there is one type of sunglass lens with a refractive errorcorrection function on the market, but the production process iscomplicated and the sunglass price is high.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides dual-lens eyeglasses to solve theafore-mentioned technical problems.

The technical solution of the present invention is to make dual-lenseyeglasses including an eyeglasses frame having two lens frames and twolens units installed on the lens frames of the eyeglasses frame, whereineach of the lens units includes two lenses arranged in optical alignmentwith each other.

In the dual-lens glasses according to the present invention, the twolenses can be the same type of lenses or different types of lenses.

In the dual-lens glasses according to the present invention, the twolenses can be spaced apart or be positioned to be close to each other(including contacting each other).

In one embodiment, the dual-lens glasses according to the presentinvention include an eyeglass frame with two eyewires, and each eyewireholds one dual-lens lens unit.

As used herein, the term “eyewire” is used in its technical sense in theophthalmology art; that is, the rim that surrounds the lens in aneyeglass frame. However, the term also applies to rimless andpartial/half rim glasses. In this sense, it means a support element forthe eyeglass lens whether that support fully or partially surrounds thelens or whether the lens is attached to the remainder of the eyeglassframes by fasteners as in rimless glasses. Further, although the word“wire” is used for historical reasons, it is understood that supportelements for lenses can be made of a variety of materials other thanwire-including but not limited to various kinds of polymers, nyloncords, non-wire metal materials, and combinations thereof. Thus the term“eyewire” is meant to be construed in a broad sense relating to theholding mechanism for lenses in eyewear and not in the literal sensesuggested by the word “wire.”

In one embodiment, the inner wall of each eyewire has two grooves, andeach of the lens units is installed on one groove, wherein the lens edgeshape matches the corresponding groove.

In another embodiment, the dual-lens eyeglasses according to the presentinvention feature an eyeglass frame having two eyewires, and eacheyewire holds one lens unit. The inner wall of each lens frame has onegroove, and two lenses are installed together on the groove, such thatthe groove matches with the edge shape of the two lenses when the lensescontact each other.

In a further embodiment, the dual-lens glasses have an eyeglass framewith two eyewires; each of these two eyewires corresponds to one lensunit and each eyewire is a half rim frame structure. There are two rimwires between the two free ends of the half rims. The external wall ofeach lens has a groove suitable for accommodating the rim wire. Thelenses are installed on said lens frame by the rim wire and the lensgroove.

In another version, the dual-lens glasses have a frame including twoeyewires; each eyewire holds one lens unit. Each eyewire includes onefull rim and one half rim arranged in optical alignment with each other.The inside edge of the full rim has one groove, and there is one rimwire between the two free ends of the half rim. The groove is configuredto tightly accommodate the edge shape of one lens while the bottom ofthe other lens has a groove suitable for the rim wire. The other lens isinstalled on said half rim through the interaction of the rim wire andthe lens groove.

In the dual-lens glasses of the present invention, the full rim and thehalf rim can be detachably connected, permanently connected, or formedas an integral structure.

For rimless dual-lens eyeglass frames, two lenses in contact with oneanother are installed in optical alignment and fastened to the eyeglassframe with fasteners such as screws.

The lenses for the dual-lens glasses can be optical lenses, tintedlenses, or sunglass lenses or a combination thereof.

The dual-lens glasses of the present invention have the followingadvantages: without the use of a sub-frame, two lens units are installedon the each eyewire of an eyeglass frame, wherein each lens unitincludes two lenses arranged in optical alignment with each other,thereby enhancing the integration of the eyeglass frames. Because eachlens is directly fixed and installed on an eyewire of an eyeglassesframe, the installation is reliable and the lenses will not fall offeasily. Furthermore, the lenses can be easily installed on full-rim,half-rim or rimless eyeglass frames.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of dual-lens eyeglasses having eyewires withtwo-groove according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of dual-lens eyeglasses having eyewires withone-groove according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of dual-lens eyeglasses having one full rim and onehalf rim according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of rimless dual-lens eyeglasses according to afurther embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of rimless dual-lens eyeglasses according to anotherembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The detailed description of the present invention is made in combinationwith the attached figures and discussion of specific embodiments. Thedrawings and specific embodiments are for the purpose illustrating theobjectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present inventionand not for limiting the present invention.

According to the present invention, two eyewires are provided whichrespectively correspond to the left eye and right eye. Each eyewireincludes two lenses, that is, the eyeglass frames of the dual-lenseyeglasses of the present invention accommodate four lenses, with twolenses for each eye. Moreover, the two lenses of each lens unit can beof the same or different lens types. The lenses can be made of samematerial or different materials, and have the same or different purposesand functions. Exemplary lenses can be optical lenses or sunglasslenses. The optical lenses can be selected from a variety of knownlenses, including, but not limited to, myopic corrective lenses, readingglasses lenses, progressive lenses, etc. The sunglass lenses can beselected from a variety of known sunglass lenses, including, but notlimited to, polarized lenses, tinted lenses, or photochromic lenses. Anexemplary lens unit can be formed from one polarized lens and oneoptical lens. It should be understood that the eyeglasses frames can bemade of any suitable material for supporting the lenses including butnot limited to metal or plastic/polymer materials or combinationsthereof.

In a specific embodiment, the two lenses corresponding to each eye arearranged in optical alignment with each other and are installed withinan eyewire of the eyeglasses frame so as to form a lens unit. Further,the two lenses arranged in optical alignment with each other and can bespaced apart from each other or contacting each other, depending uponthe desired optical function. Optionally, the dual lenses may be adheredto each other through thermal adhesion, adhesive bonding material, orany other system to form an integral dual-lens unit. Thus the dual-lensglasses are installed with a lens set of dual lenses for each eye.

As described above, the technical solution of the present inventionincludes an improvement of the front portion of eyeglass lens frames.The portion of the frame positioned at the temple of the wearer can beselected from any conventional configuration and is not depicted in thedrawings for the sake of clarity,

According to the first embodiment as shown in FIG. 1, the eyeglass frame1 have two eyewires 2, with each eyewire 2 accommodating one lens unit.The inner wall of each eyewire has two grooves 21 and the width of eachgroove 21 matches the edge thickness of the lens 3 to be installed. Thedepth of each groove 21 can be flexibly designed, provided that the lensis firmly installed. If the two lenses 3 have the same shape, the twogrooves on the eyewire 2 used for installing the lens 3 can also havethe same shape so that a specific installation order sequence is notrequired, that is, each lens can be freely installed in each groove. Itis understood that when the two lenses 3 have different shapes, eachgroove 21 is configured for each specific lens 3, and an installationsequence order is required for the two lenses 3, that is, one lens 3 canonly be installed on one specific groove 21. In the latter embodiment,the two lenses 3 are installed on different grooves 21. Therefore, thereis a gap between the two lenses after installation.

According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the eyeglasses frame 1includes two eyewires 2, with one eyewire 2 accommodating one integratedlens unit. As compared to the first embodiment, the difference in thesecond embodiment is that the inner wall of each eyewire 2 has only onegroove 21, that is, the two lenses 3 are installed on the same groove21. Thus, the two lenses arranged in optical alignment with each otherare in contact after installation, and the width of the groove 21 shouldmatch the edge thickness of the integrated lens unit including twolenses 3, so as to fit the two lenses 3 therein.

Thus, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the eyewires of the eyeglasses have afull-rim frame structure. It is understood that the eyewires can alsohave a half-rim frame structure with a downward opening.

According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the eyeglass frame 1 hastwo eyewires, with each eyewire holding one lens unit; each eyewirecomprises a full rim 7 and a half rim 4 which are arranged in opticalalignment with each other. In a specific embodiment, the full rim 7 andhalf rim 4 can be detachably connected, permanently connected, or anintegral structure. The inner wall of the full rim 7 has one groove 21,and there is one rim wire 7 between the two free ends 41 of the half rim4. In one example, the rim wire can be fishing wire (e.g., nylon cord)or any other wire made of the materials having suitable flexibility andstrength to support lenses. In the same embodiment, the groove 21 issuitable for the edge shape of one lens 3 for a tight fit, and thebottom of the other lens 3 has a groove suitable for the rim wire (notshown in the figure). The other lens 3 is installed on the half rim 4 bymeans of the rim wire 5. The upper edge wall of the lens 3 can tightlypush against the inner wall of the half rim 4, or a groove accommodatingthe upper edge wall of the lens 3 can be configured in the inner wall ofthe half rim 4, so as to install the upper side wall of the lens 3 onthe groove of the half rim 4 to achieve secure installation.

It is understood that the eyeglasses frame has two eyewires, with oneeyewire corresponding to one lens unit; each eyewire is of half rimstructure with a downward opening, and there are two rim wires betweenthe two free ends of the half rims; the edge wall of each lens has agroove suitable for the rim wire; the lenses are installed on theeyewire by means of the rim wire and the lens groove. Thus, it can beseen that the dual-lens structure is applicable to both full-rim andhalf-rim eyewires.

Moreover, when the dual-lens structure is used for rimless frames,according to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the two lenses 3contact each other and corresponding holes are formed on one side of thetwo lenses 3, so that the two lenses can be fixed with fasteners such asscrews 6, and further fixed on the eyeglasses frame 1, thus achievingthe application of the dual-lens structure to rimless frames.

The present invention is described by using a number of embodiments, andthose skilled in the art should understand that variations andequivalent substitutions can be made to this invention without departingfrom the scope of the present invention. In addition, under specificsituations or circumstances, variations can be made to the presentinvention without departing from the scope of this invention.Accordingly, the present invention is not limited by the embodimentsdisclosed herein, but should include all embodiments falling within thescope of the claims appended to the present invention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A pair of eyeglasses including dual lensesfor each eyewire, the eyeglasses comprising: an eyeglass frame selectedfrom full rim or half-rim eyeglass frames; two eyewires, each eyewireconfigured to permanently retain a set of dual lenses in each respectiveframe; a pair of dual lens sets configured such that one of the pair ofdual lens sets is retained by each eyewire, each lens of the dual lensset being independently selected from optical lenses and sunglass lensesand each lens of the dual lens set being in optical alignment with theother lens of the dual lens set; each lens of the dual lens set beingspaced apart from the other lens of the dual lens set or each lens ofthe dual lens set contacting the other lens of the dual lens set,wherein each of said eyewires has a half rim structure and there are tworim wires arranged in line with each other between the two free ends ofsaid half rim; the edge of each lens has a groove accommodating said rimwires; and said lenses are installed on said eyewire by means of saidrim wires and said lens groove.
 2. The pair of eyeglasses including duallenses for each eyewire according to claim 1, wherein an inner wall ofeach of the eyewires has two grooves, and one lens of the dual lens setis installed on each corresponding groove, wherein a lens edge shape isconfigured to be retained in the corresponding groove.
 3. The pair ofeyeglasses including dual lenses for each eyewire according to claim 1,wherein an inner wall of each of said eyewires has one groove, and thetwo lenses of the dual lens set are installed on said one groove,wherein said one groove is configured to retain an edge shape of a duallens set in which each lens of the dual lens set contacts the other lensof the dual lens.
 4. The pair of eyeglasses including dual lenses foreach eyewire according to claim 1 wherein the dual lenses are adhered toeach other.
 5. A pair of eyeglasses including dual lenses for eacheyewire, the eyeglasses comprising: an eyeglass frame selected from fullrim or half-rim eyeglass frames; two eyewires, each eyewire configuredto permanently retain a set of dual lenses in each respective frame; apair of dual lens sets configured such that one of the pair of dual lenssets is retained by each eyewire, each lens of the dual lens set beingindependently selected from optical lenses and sunglass lenses and eachlens of the dual lens set being in optical alignment with the other lensof the dual lens set; each lens of the dual lens set being spaced apartfrom the other lens of the dual lens set or each lens of the dual lensset contacting the other lens of the dual lens set, wherein each of saideyewires comprises one full rim and one half rim arranged in line witheach other; the inner wall of said full rim has one groove, and there isone rim wire between the two free ends of said half rim; and whereinsaid groove accommodates the edge shape of one lens for tight fit, andthe bottom of the other lens has a groove accommodating the rim wire;said other lens is installed on said half rim by means of said rim wireand said lens groove.
 6. The pair of eyeglasses including dual lensesfor each eyewire according to claim 5, wherein an inner wall of each ofthe eyewires has two grooves, and one lens of the dual lens set isinstalled on each corresponding groove, wherein a lens edge shape isconfigured to be retained in the corresponding groove.
 7. The pair ofeyeglasses including dual lenses for each eyewire according to claim 5,wherein an inner wall of each of said eyewires has one groove, and thetwo lenses of the dual lens set are installed on said one groove,wherein said one groove is configured to retain an edge shape of a duallens set in which each lens of the dual lens set contacts the other lensof the dual lens.
 8. The pair of eyeglasses including dual lenses foreach eyewire according to claim 5 wherein the dual lenses are adhered toeach other.
 9. The pair of eyeglasses including dual lenses for eacheyewire according to claim 5, wherein said full rim and half rim arepermanently connected or in an integral structure.